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Folk art arrives at the door – The Barbara Browne Collection

It was a sunny, August day in 1995, and we had just finished our lunch when there came a knock on the back door. We weren’t expecting anyone, and it was rare for anyone to visit without calling ahead. This, because we were so often on the road that our friends knew to give us the heads up before coming by. We opened to find a small elderly lady standing there with a big smile and a portfolio under her arm. “Are you the folks who buy folk art?” “Well yes, we have been known to do so. How can we help you?” “My name is Barbara Browne, and I live down the road in Port Rowan, and I have a collection of folk art which I would like to sell.” “Come right in and tell us about it.”

She explained that she was an artist who had collected Canadian folk art for the past twenty years, and she was about to buy a smaller house in Simcoe, and thus needed to downsize, and recoup her investment to help with the purchase. “What is the nature of your collection?” She reached into her portfolio and produced a twenty-page booklet of meticulously hand drawn illustrations of folk art with dimensions, which we later learned were produced for her by her niece, well-know Norfolk artist Liz Barrett-Milner. “It’s all in here. There are 185 pieces all told, and I am only interested in sell the whole thing. No picking and choosing.” There was some mind blowing stuff, including works by Nova Scotia artists Charlie Atkinson, Charlie Tanner, and Everett Lewis; as well as many Ontario artists such as Clarence Webster, Joe Lloyd, Steve Sutch, and Robert McCairns. Most pieces were smaller in nature, but there was also a big wall-mounted cow’s head, a couple of 8’ totem poles, a full size deer, and last but not least, the best folk art hooked rug I had ever set eyes on, depicting a fat man and dated 1916.

head by Robert McCairns

“We won’t beat around the bush. It’s all of interest, but of course it depends on your expectations” She then produced an itemized price list of what she felt would be current list prices. “I understand you need to make money, so this is what I think it is worth, and I would therefore expect half”. “In principle that sounds fair so let us go over it and get back to you.”

What followed was four or five meetings at her house where we viewed the items and discussed the prices. It became a bit complicated as each time we arrived we she had decided that there were a few more items that she felt she needed to keep, but it came to pass that we arrived at a final list and a final price, and so a date was set to complete the deal and pick up the pieces.

On that day, she informed us that she didn’t want to be there as we removed the pieces as it would be sad for her, so she wanted to go for a walk and return when we were finished. We weren’t at all comfortable with this, but agreed on the condition that we would line up the pieces outside by the truck, and she would review the load before we left, and that’s how we did it.

Barbara Browne and Cassandra by the truck

Barbara was an excellent artist in herself, and continued to be a friend and inspiration until her death several years later. The collection sold well, and the fat man rug was featured prominently in the John Fleming/ Michael Rowan book on Canadian folk art.